Thursday, December 17, 2015

Eric Bergman: Truth VS. Transparency

December 1st, I had the
opportunity to attend an IABC event where Master Communicator, Eric Bergman,
discussed being truthful versus being transparent- because there is actually a
difference.

Here are the 3 main topics Eric spoke about
at the event about being a transparent business communicator:

1. On Polarization

Polarization is the opposition of sides.
Our goal as communicators is to neutralize these sides through forming an
unformed opinion or changing an opinion.

People don’t remember what you say; they
remember what they thought about what you said. As long as someone has an
emotional attachment, you won’t be able to change his or her mind. To reverse
this, make them compare their logic and your logic to create a reasonable,
rational, logical opinion. Chances are you will be able to neutralize the
polarization.

2. On Transparency

Trust comes from transparency. If you are
going to manage polarization, you must answer questions. However, transparency
means, “ask me anything you want”, NOT “that’s a good question but let me tell
you what’s really important”. Short answers are easier to remember, and
answering the question clearly will generate a more positive response.

There are a choice 3 answers to every
question:

1. No I don’t have the answer, but I will
find out.

2. Yes I know the answer, it’s….

3. Yes I know the answer, but I can’t
discuss it.

3. The Art of Answering Questions

The more you try to educate everyone, the
less they understand. Ironic, isn’t it?

There is a lot of logic to be explored in
Q&A’s, but sometimes business communicators get in the way when answering.
Keep “PAS” in mind:

P= pause

A= answer

S= stop

Any question should be able to be answered
in 10 words or less. Eric has recorded business communicators answering questions
and showed it to them afterwards- he then recommends to do 10 pushups for every
word you go over 10 words. You’ll put more value in your words and use less
filler.